While mobile retargeting was already picking up steam, Twitter’s entry with a cross-channel strategy addressing the challenges in using Web cookies for mobile tracking could attract more dollars to from brands.

Location-based services is shaping up to be a significant portion of the mobile industry going forward. While Apple has traditionally not been very strong here, the company is quietly making gains and could even surpass Google in one quickly growing area: indoor location.

Increasingly, mobile handset manufacturers are focusing their efforts on gaining a competitive edge with consumers by winning over their hearts with splashy television ads as much as they are on bringing out faster, better hardware. However, not all ad campaigns are created equal.

Google and Facebook are increasingly going head-to-head on a number of fronts in mobile advertising, including performance marketing, a traditional area of strength for Google’s but one where Facebook is quickly gaining.

With Google’s cost-per-click rates on smartphones up 5.2 percent year-over-year and flat compared to the previous quarter, a report from The Search Agency being released today suggests that the introduction of Enhanced Campaigns has not had a big impact on marketers.

The mobile device as a virtual assistant is not a new idea, but players such as Google and Foursquare have new features intended to make the services more useful and contextually relevant. Opportunities exist for marketers as long as consumer do not perceive the new generation of virtual assistants as too invasive.